Paradise reborn – Ghosts of the past. The loungers, shown here in this 2013 image, have been banished. Beach-goers lie on towels now.

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Photos:Before and after

Surin Beach: Before – Phuket's Surin Beach was once home to multiple beach clubs and illegal structures.

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Photos:Before and after

Surin Beach: After – Today, Surin is the most pristine it's been in years.

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Story highlights

The Thai military is cleaning up Phuket's beaches

A crackdown on taxis is now underway in response to years of alleged illegal practices, abuse and misuse

"'I told the local authorities to do their jobs. The novel idea appears to be working," says military official

Raddled by allegations of corruption and mismanagement by inept authorities, the Thai holiday island of Phuket looked destined within a few years to have its once-beautiful beaches destroyed by the side-effects of mass tourism.

Since the 2004 tsunami made Phuket even more of a household name around the world, tourism boosters have catered to sharply increasing numbers of visitors, with the island's overwhelmed infrastructure deteriorating rapidly.

Bliss for many tourists became a sunbed on the beach where they could alternately loll and dip all day long and be serviced by locals bringing coconut juice or a cocktail, or perhaps even a delicious tiger prawn sandwich.

Such pleasurable indulgence proved exceedingly popular, and some beaches eventually succumbed each tourism high season under a colorful sea of sunbeds.

Along the foreshores at many beaches, illegal businesses sprang up and grew. Beach clubs predominated, but a visitor could spend hours in a beauty salon on the sand or even buy a time-share property.

A constant stream of vendors left tourists little time to snooze. Paradise was evaporating, if it hadn't already.

Then an odd and unexpected event happened.

On May 22, Thailand Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha assumed control of the country in a military coup following months of political deadlock between opposing sides.

Within 72 hours of taking control, soldiers were on the holiday island, bearing promises to save the beaches and berate the administrators accused of contributing to the island's simultaneous ride and slide towards increased popularity and ruin.

A few months on, and Phuket continues to shake off the effects of decades of corruption that have been plaguing the island since the 1970s, when the first backpackers discovered the brilliance of the island's gleaming west coast beaches and locals discovered a new source of income.

Today, all that is changing, due to the arrival of khaki and camouflage-clad soldiers.

Post-coup: Patong Beach, Phuket.

They tromped Patong, Phuket's main west coast beach, enforcing the message that the hedonistic days of lazing on sunbeds were at an end, along with the vendors' privateering ways.

Sand was making a comeback.

Though many Western countries have condemned Thailand's latest coup, it may just have saved Phuket from further decay -- also producing some useful social outcomes for similarly troubled holiday destinations in other parts of the country.

All beaches in Thailand are public space by law. The prohibition of private business operations on these public beaches is without exception, but has been ignored on Phuket and some other tourism destinations.

Restaurants and beach clubs illegally encroached onto the beaches, right down to the high-water mark in some places, too many deriving private profits by ignoring the law and doing as they pleased.

Because Phuket is 860 kilometers south of Bangkok, administrators posted by the central government seemed reluctant to interfere.

Phuket locals interpreted the concept of public beaches as meaning anyone could use them, so first they added sunbeds, then built thatch and bamboo bars on the shore fronts.

Over the years, entrepreneurs joined in, expanding the venues into large restaurants and beachclubs.

Some businesses grew to the water's edge. There was no enforcement by authorities to force them off the beach.

Once the army took charge, though, local mayor Ma-Ann Samran, of Cherng Talay, says he began receiving daily visits from officers in civilian clothes.

He had no hesitation in admitting he eventually acted to save the beaches in his district out of fear.

''I was genuinely scared,'' Ma-Ann said. ''The Army let me know I had to act.''

After decades of local ''law'' being applied, the Army transformation came at great speed, within days of the May 22 coup.

Graders toppled beach clubs and restaurants, while the sunbeds and umbrellas were carted off in pickup trucks, banned forever.

A Patong Beach vendor watches as the area is cleared of illegal structures.

Tourists on all Phuket beaches now sit on towels.

Taxi clampdown

What happened with the alleged bullying that taxi drivers were accused of, was even more remarkable.

Present-day Phuket police commander Major General Praveen Pongsirin found the army to be perfect allies to conclude his covert months' long investigation of the island's ''mafia.''

Local officials who allegedly sponsored the bullies were also arrested, police officials said. These include the Mayor of Karon municipality and his two deputies, plus the chief engineer and the senior officer, who remain on bail facing six charges apiece.

When they appear in court, they'll have the opportunity to enter their pleas. They have denied the charges. No court date has been set.

Villas dot the hillsides, well above height restrictions. On Phuket, regulations stipulate constructions can be no higher than 80 meters above sea level.

Now, says Major General Somchai, complaints are being listened to and acted upon, without regard to the degree of influence Thailand's resident ''big people'' have always had under civilian governments.

''Enforce the law,'' the major general tells his officers, ''free from favor."

''By November [start of the tourism high season] we will have made Phuket safe, clean and appealing to everyone,'' he says.